I was looking at the flight schedules from DXB to HYD for August, and around August 8th, they start flying long haul 777's, such as the the 77W to HYD! This is very surprising, because I have been flying EK to HYD for the past 6-7 years, and the best equipment we ever got was a 773 with old configuration! This 77W has the suites, and lie flat business class. I've never seen EK schedule Long Haul aircraft on not so popular routes like HYD. Either there's a lot of Hyderabadi's flying EK, or all those A380 are sending 777 on routes like this! I'm not criticizing EK on this decision, because it would be awesome if they keep it on the route! Suites to HYD would be awesome. This is on EK 524/525. I'm just very surprised about it! Is this the future? With all the A380's replacing the more important routes, are the 777's and even some A380 be put on routes like this? If it is, I for one am excited!
What do you think?

My guess is that they want the cargo capacity the 77W offers. I would also guess that they've been getting complaints from their frequent flyers about the quality of the F and J product on the 773, so, while the main reason for the switch might be for the extra cargo carrying ability, they're also making their premium passengers happy by giving them a better onboard hard product.

I'd rather be one of the worst and Dumbest than the best and brightest....life's so much more stress free that way

Quoting emirates202 (Reply 3):And I guess since they are banned in India, this is the biggest, or an A345, that they can fly in to India at this time.

747s are still permitted in India, so those would be the largest aircraft that can fly there (although EK doesn't have any).

The ban stems from the fear by the Indian gov't that foreign carriers will fly high-density A380s (capable of up to 800 pax depending on configuration) into India and eat up all the market share of Indian carriers. It's just a case of misguided protectionism. Canada is even guilty of it to a degree.